The Sarah Whitby Site

An artist’s conception of Sarah Whitby’s house based on archeological evidence, a description of the house given in the rental agreement, and the historical drawings of DeLancey Gill. NPS.

Influential groups often saw the homes of Black residents as substandard. These groups included local white citizens associations, suburban developers, and government officials. Their efforts obscured many of the signs of Black tenant settlements in Rock Creek Park. Yet enough remains to tell the story. Archeology reveals information we cannot know any other way about the Whitby family and its members' everyday lives.

The Whitby Family

The Whitbys were among the many African American families that moved to the rural outskirts of Washington, DC in the late 1800s. Elijah and Sarah Whitby first appear in the 1870 Census. They migrated to the nation’s capital where their children were born by 1868 at the latest. Elijah self-reported himself as a farmhand. Sarah kept house for her husband, their two young sons, and the Taylors, another couple who helped with the farm. Two other Whitbys, Ambrose and Africa, lived nearby with their families. They may have been Elijah’s brothers.

The 1880 Census identifies Elijah as a teamster (a driver for horse-drawn wagons). The family rented a two-room house and stable. In 1895, the Rock Creek Park Commission judged it to be in “poor” condition. By the 1900 Census, Sarah Whitby, likely Elijah's widow, was the head of household. She was listed as a laundress. And although she herself was illiterate, all of her nine children could read.

What Archeology Reveals

Archeologists working for NPS took a close look at the five-acre former site of the Whitby house. They noticed a depression in the ground close to a large walnut tree. They dug a small hole in the center of the depression. Underneath about half a foot of sod and recent fill they found bricks, corrugated roofing metal, and artifacts dating to around 1900. These finds encouraged them to return to the site and conduct a larger dig. Archeologists using metal detecting, subsurface testing, and surface inspection and found an 11-by-9-foot cellar hole. The stone floor and brick and stone rubble date to around 1900. Two layers in the filled-in cellar hole yielded several hundred artifacts. Most common were clear, amber, and aqua bottle glass; cut and wire nails; and whiteware ceramics. Personal artifacts included a slate pencil, a porcelain marble, and a perfume bottle. These items show that a range of men, women, and children—up to sixteen people at one point—shared the house.

Other artifacts point to an even richer Whitby legacy than anticipated. Archeologists recovered 52 buttons that are likely related to Sarah Whitby’s work as a laundress. One button displays the words "Saville Row." Saville Row was the street where London's finest tailors had their shops. If this button came from Saville Row, then Sarah Whitby catered to at least one very well-dressed client.

Buttons from the Whitby family's cellar. NPS.

Also striking were two sherds of possible colonoware. Colonoware is a type of pottery that is hand-made, unglazed, and hardened in low temperature fires. It is particularly associated with enslaved African Americans prior to the Civil War. The presence of colonoware at the Whitby homestead implies two possibilities. The first is that the Whitby family kept the pottery as an heirloom. Second is that the house, and the Whitby’s lives there, may predate the Civil War. This could mean African American migrants had lived in the area for longer than previously known.

A Thriving Community

Small tenancies like the Whitby’s provided a degree of safety, privacy, and autonomy. This suited both formerly enslaved people and those who were free before emancipation. The Whitby family may be one of the earliest African American families to settle at Broad Branch. And they also belonged to an extensive community of at least 25 households. Archeologists have identified two related sites, the Jane Dickson and Charles Dickson sites. And documentary research has started for nearby enclaves. Now, we have many ways to learn about the experiences of African Americans at Broad Branch.

Resources

“Bold, Rocky, and Picturesque”: Archeological Identification and Evaluation Study of Rock Creek Park, vol. 1. The Louis Berger Group, Inc., Washington, D.C. Prepared for the National Park Service, 2008.

Charles Dickson Site National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National Park Service, 2022.

Jane Dickson Site National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National Park Service, 2022.

Sarah Whitby Site National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National Park Service, 2022.